it’s fungible…teams avoid “cap hell” many different ways…one popular way is to add voided years on the back end so they lengthen the time of the deal knowing full well that the player will either be released or retired…dead money is a thing, but orgs act like it’s a prison that prevents you from adding players via free agency or trade.
look at what the rams are doing…”fuk them picks” went all-in to get stafford a ring…they haven’t suffered at all.
and true, the best way to win a sb is with a qb on a rookie contract…that or have mahomes.